My son is seven and only 50 lbs. He has ADHD and I am thinking about putting him on different meds. Unfortunatly, most have an appetite decreasing side effect. And I really don't think I could stand to see him any skinnier. My question is, to all the parents who were kind enough to want to help me. Is your child with ADHD skinny or on the very small side? Could this be from all his energy? He has a tremendeous amount of energy and doesn't slow down. He's a picky eater. I am debating wether or not to put him on different meds. Please help.

I understand how you feel! My severely ADHD son has always been a picky eater and thin like yours. And yes, I was concerned about putting him on a medication that might reduce his appetite.

I was given good advice when I started him on meds. They still get thirsty even if they're not hungry. Try to get in as many calories as possible in the liquid form. Smoothies, milkshakes, encouraging extra fruit juice, Ensure (if your child will drink it!). This worked well for us.

Good luck!

I'm with ya too....my son is 10yrs old very very skinny.... I also was able to get him to enjoy Ensure. We mix with them with fruit - ice - Hershey's chocolate or Strawberry syrups... doctor them up they aren't that bad. Also he enjoys Carnation drinks too. Another thing is I have alot of nutrious snacks around when he is in his "coming off" period late evening for him to nibble on I'll put some right in his room for the late night eating he wants to do...he certainly don't gain much - but he doesn't lose much, I keep it closely monitored! Good luck!

These choices are so hard. My son is 13 now and we've been through the same thing. Both my boys are very thin (even the one without ADD) - so I knew this might be a battle. Our Dr. said "Let's find the best med for him, then we'll see about the weight and dietary issue." Just take things one step at a time and see how it goes.

I agree with the other parents, there are clever ways to get the nutrition in. Just might not be at the kitchen table like what we think.

We did the Carnation Instant breakfast in his milk or in milkshakes. Snacks like salami & cheese, crackers & peanutbutter, etc. seem to help.

BTW, he's been on mostly stimulant meds since kdg. and very, very thin, but he's 13 y.o. now & he's almost 6' tall, so they certainly haven't stunted his growth any. His dr. ALWAYS does a ht & wt. ck with his med checks. Hopefully yours does too.

Many hugs to you and you decide what's right for your son.
Take care ~

My son, who's now 20, was always very skinny and rather small height-wise when he was younger. While his ADD meds certainly didn't put any weight on him, they weren't detrimental, either. I think the important thing is that they progress in inches and puonds overall, even if they're at the small end of the scale.
BTW, I also have ADHD, am on meds and am very slender, but as long as I'm healthy and don't lose any more, I'm okay. As the posters above said, there are creative ways to get your calories in during the day. Good luck finding a good med for your son! Sue

My 11 year odl is only 62 lbs. He is quite skinny but his medication in no way has ever messed with his appetite. He loves to eat. He isn't short or anything either.

I was very skinny when I was a kid. But, on the other hand, my life was better because of the medication. I never got dangerously underweight either. I was healthy, I just didn't look as weighty as I should have.

It's been a long time since I've been on the meds, thinking about going back on them though, especially after reading some of these posts and realizing that I still really do have a problem with ADD, but what I remember about food is this:

The thicker and more substance something had, the harder it was to swallow. Even something as simple as a smoothy could be tough if it had chunks in it. I was on a fairly high dosage though, too. Every day before I took my pill I would eat a decent breakfast. I had whole milk, fruit, eggs, whatever.. It was always well balanced and nutritious. The easiest things for me to eat at lunch were soups. My mom would send soup with me in a thermos. I often didn't eat much of a lunch though.

When I got home, however, the pill was wearing off and I was famished. I would eat a substantial snack and then a big dinner. I also ate well on the weekends and durring the summer. I was skinny to begin with and not eating lunch made it worse, I'm sure, but all in all, I was really only missing one meal a day and I made up for it in snacks later. I don't think you should worry too much. Just keep an eye on him like the loving mother you are. You know when your kid is having trouble, that's why you are learning about ADHD.

I have the same concern about weight loss with my 16 year old daughter. She was started on Adderall a month ago for ADHD. We had tried other meds but the side effects, especially with Stratterra were too hard to take.
I knew that in the past month she had experienced a drastic loss in appetite from the drug but I was shocked to find that in the past 30 days, she has lost 7 pounds, leaving her weighing 110 pounds. She's 5'6, was thin to begin with so she can't afford that kind of loss.
She was on 30mg a day and the Adderall has been so good for her as far as helping her stay focused on classes and schoolwork but even the doctor was freaked out by how much weight she had lost.
He cut her dose immediately to 15mg a day and we have to go back in 2 weeks for a follow up and I will weigh her at home every couple of days. If she has lost so much as 1 pound in 2 weeks the doctor said he was taking her off the drug.
We are kind of caught between a rock and a hard place, there are not too many alternatives out there so what are we supposed to do?